The opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games are n’t just about pageantry and the parade of nations . The 1920 Summer Olympic Games were check in Antwerp , and the people of Belgium were lofty to show that despite the vast destruction of World War I , the horrors of that engagement had n’t break out their spirits .
tight - forward to 1964 , and the citizens of Japan had a like program line to make . Their finaltorchbearerwas a young man named Yoshinori Sakai . He was born on Aug. 6 , 1945 , in Hiroshima — the very 24-hour interval that metropolis was struck by anatomic bomb .
The Olympics in general can also be a elbow room for nations to take a stand against comprehend injustices . In 1980 , for example , 65 country reject to take part in the Moscow Summer Olympic Games [ source : metre ] . They were protest the Soviet Union ’s intrusion of Afghanistan . In fact , the ' seventy and ' eighty were a hard metre for many hopeful Olympians . The 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona marked the first time in 20 class that no countries felt the need to boycott the games .
And let ’s use the 1992 Barcelona opening ceremony to showcase just one of the many impressive feat and carrying into action that have happen over the eld during the commencement ritual of the plot . During most ceremony , the Olympic cauldron is light by a torch , which is hand - delivered by some famous soul or Olympic god . The Spaniards took an telling gamble : Their cauldron was get down from afar by an Sagittarius with a flaming arrow . Talk about pressure to make the shot ! At the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta , famed packer Muhammad Ali who make headway the gold palm as Cassius Clay in Rome in 1960 , brought down the house when he unhorse the cauldron to start the games there .
But during the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Winter Olympics held in Sochi , Russia , it was three - metre amber - medallist form skater Irina Rodnina and hockey goalie Vladislav Tretiak that had the honors . And they did not disappoint . The cauldron was light up in what was also quite a display of theatrics and pyrotechnic feats .
The Evolution of the Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games have evolved greatly over the age . It was n’t until the 1908 Summer Olympic Games in London , for example , that it became a tradition for the Greek delegation to conduct the parade of nations and the host country ’s delegation to enter as the coda . Now that ’s how it ’s always done .
The Olympic flag and oath were n’t unfurled until the 1920 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin , and thecauldron lightingdidn’t become wonted until the 1928 Summer Olympic Games in Amsterdam . And even then , there was n’t a torch relay until the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin [ reference : Time ] .
Another major facet that ’s changed ishow much money a Carry Amelia Moore Nation necessitate to shell outin order to stage the opening ceremonies . Well , technically they don’thave tospend extravagantly , but with billions of eyes glued to telecasting screens around the world and their reputations purportedly on the line , Olympian organizers tend to pull out all the stops . London ’s 2012 Summer Olympic Games opening observance alone reportedly cost more than 80 million Ezra Pound ( more than $ 124 million ) [ source : Williams ] . Quite a change from when the city host the post - World War II games in 1948 , which were dub the Austerity Games .
now , the opening ceremony have several components that are pretty much fixed . We ’ll go through the rundown on the next pageboy .
What to Expect in the Opening Ceremonies Today
Modern opening ceremonies feature several stock components , include the followers :
Perhaps the most memorable part of any opening ceremony is its artistic political program . Usually the detail of the performance are kept top secret until it begin . This segment of the ceremony is the host metropolis ’s chance to show off its refinement and chronicle on the global level . Take the unforgettable opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing : 91,000 masses packed the stadium nicknamed the Bird ’s Nest and watched as 5,000 years of Chinese history played out before their eyes .
Among the many components of the show , 2,008 drummers beat out a bewitch tune in perfect synchronicity on percussive instrument constructed in an ancient fashion . elephantine block representing printing stoppage rose from the stadium storey and assembled into a model of theGreat Wall of China . rower armed with gargantuan paddles rowed their way up the Silk Road . All in all , some 14,000 participants performed in the observance , some who had been practicing and perfecting their execution for two full years [ source : Henderson ] .
But back to the rest of the ceremony . During the parade of res publica , between the Greeks and the jock from the horde country , the rest of the delegations inscribe in alphabetic order — based on the language of the host country . Each delegation is breast by both a display panel with the country ’s name and its masthead . It is a great laurels for an jock to be prefer to convey his or her country ’s fleur-de-lis .
Another staple is the reaching of the blowlamp at the arena to light the caldron . Pigeons — symbolize peace — are resign follow that . ( They used to be set destitute before the cauldron was lit , but several unfortunate avians got toasted one yr , hence the swap . ) An athlete and an functionary also take the Olympic Oath . The use of this is to drink adhesion to the rules of the games and to promise standards of good sportsmanship . One jock from the nation hosting the games recount the assurance on behalf of all the athlete competing in that Olympiad .
Once all these components of the opening ceremony come about , the host commonwealth ’s headway of state proclaims the games open , and it ’s the athletes ' turn to radiate .
The opening ceremonies are one of my favourite parts of the Olympic Games . I love the flourish and the comment . ( Also , occasionally , have playfulness of said comment . ) It ’s so cool to hear previews about the different athletes and tidbit about their backstories . It ’s interesting to see the esthetic program and memorize what a body politic discover most worthy and intriguing to apportion about itself .
